Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, they all belong to Meg Cabot.
Chapter 1I rolled over in bed and glanced at my alarm clock. 8:15. I turned back over, then quickly whirled around in a panic. 8:15?! I had fifteen minutes to get to school on time.
I quickly threw my legs over the side of my bed and used a hair tie sitting on my dresser to pull my hair into a messy ponytail. I grabbed a t-shirt and some jeans from my dresser and pulled them on without really looking at them. Not bothering with makeup, I threw on my shoes and ran out of my bedroom. I quickly chugged a glass of orange juice and grabbed a protein bar from the pantry. I ran toward our entryway, praying that Dopey hadn't left for school yet…
No such luck. Dopey's brand new silver Mercedes Benz, a birthday present from my step-brother's uber-rich grandma, was not in the driveway. Grabbing a coat hanging on a hook, not realizing it was Sleepy's, I reluctantly headed to the garage to retrieve my bike.
The ride to school was…interesting, to say the least. Slamming on your brakes at the bottom of Oak Leaf street, a steep hill, when you see a totally hot ghost standing in the path of your bike, definitely qualified the ride as different.
He had blackish-brown hair, tan skin, and pale blue eyes. He was a total hottie. Maybe not as hot as Jessie, but right up there. I didn't understand, however, why he stopped me and nearly killed me by making me fly over my handle bars.
"Um, excuse me!" I said hastily. This was annoying.
"Wait." He said, with a look of surprise on his face.
"What?" I said, braking and looking back at him.
"You can…see me?"
I rolled my eyes. I get this kind of rookie ghost, the ones who are just realizing no one can see them except me, all the time.
"Yeah, yeah, buddy, I can see you. But I'm really in a hurry."
"But..wait. Why I am here? I don't understand."
I really didn't have time to explain the whole-life-after-death thing to the poor guy. Sister Adeline, my bio teacher, was not going to understand my excuse of, Oh, sorry I'm late, I had to stop and explain the afterlife to a totally gorgeous dead guy. That would not play with sister Adeline, who has a mustache bigger than the one Doc is trying to grow.
"Um, look, I can't talk now. I can talk to you later, maybe, right here,…?"
"It's Aiden. And yeah, that would be okay.."
"Great. I'll come back after school, but I'm late."
And with that, I sped off on my bike.
I couldn't help noticing that guy's very, very white teeth and well-defined chest under his tight-ish t-shirt.
I was kind of looking forward to this afternoon.
That is, until I saw Grace Tophes on my way to Biology.